Molding-machine.



No. 799,709. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

0. W. BRADLEY & J. OLSEN. MOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27. 1905.

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PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

G. W. BRADLEY & J. OLSEN. MOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AYB..27.1905.

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UNITED STATES PAEENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. BRADLEY AND JOHN OLSEN, OF ROCK RAPIDS, IOWA.

MOLDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES W. BRADLEY and J OHN OLSEN, citizens of the United States, residing at Rock Rapids, in the county of Lyon and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Molding-lviachine, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in molding-machines, and particularly to a molding-machine adapted to cast building-blocks, consisting of two or more cement or concrete slabs held in permanent relation to each other by means of anchors, posts, or braces of relatively small cross-sectional area as compared with that of the slabs.

The rapid development of the art of concrete or cement construction, and especially of the manufacture of air-spaced buildingblocks from such plastic material, has caused a demand for improved means of producing such blocks.

Our invention has for its object the production of these blocks more efficiently, quickly, and cheaply than is practical by the methods now in use.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of our improved moldingmachine, showing the plates or sides closed and the division-piece in place. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the machine, showing the plates open, the division-piece removed, and a building-block in place upon the pallet. Fig. 3 is also 'a perspective view of the machine, showing the plates open, the divisi.on-'

piece in place, and the anchors, hereinafter referred to, ready for insertion in the mold. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the machine viewed from the left as it is placed in the previous figures. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the means of attaching and pivoting the plate shown in Fig. 4E, and Fig. 6 is a detail showing the means for holding the block-anchors in the core.

The frame of the mold consists of a base A, side plates B and D, and end plates O and E. The side plate B is movably attached to the base A by the following means: The bar 1 is straight at one end and curved at the other. The straight end is rigidly attached by bolts or screws 2 to said side plate, while the curved end is pivotally connected with the base of the mold by means of a pintle 3, its movement being limited by a pin A, which projects through a slot 5 in the bar. I

The end plates O and E are alike, being hinged to the plate B, as shown at 6. Each of these end plates carries projections 7, which serve the double purpose of spreaders for the division-piece, hereinafter described, and of forming the ends of the core for the block to be molded. These projections are hinged to their respective end pieces by butts 8, provision being made to shift the places for hinging the projections upon the end piece when it is desired to alter the position of the airspace in the block to be cast. This provision for shifting position, as indicated in the drawings, is by a series of perforations 9 in the 9 for others which are longer or shorter by a mere substitution and hinging, as above set forth, to the plate B. By such substitution the thickness of the block is regulated. The

pivotal and sliding connection of the plate B to the base also permits the substitution of thicker or thinner pallets and provides for sufficient play when the form is opened to allow said side plate to fall away from the block without injury to the latter. The hinging of the projections 7 to the end plates O and E provides for free and flexible movement and prevents injury to the plastic block, as the projections are withdrawn easily and without any wedging movement when the end plates are thrown back. Grooves 14: are formed in the inner edge of each projection to support anchors or posts 15, which are usual in concrete construction of the class to which this invention relates. These grooves may be furnished with light friction -springs 16 to hold such anchors in place before the plastic material is introduced into the mold, and these springs must be of such resiliency that they will not drag the anchors out of place when once embedded in the concrete.

A pallet 17 of ordinary construction rests upon the base A and supports the plates. This pallet forms the bottom of the mold, and upon it the block may be removed from the machine immediately after casting. The centrol portion of the core is formed with a division-piece 18, similar to that shown in the alternate construction of our application, Serial No. 247,109, of February 24, 1905. This division-piece is hollow and provided with side leaves 19, hinged together at the top. When in position in the mold, the lower edges of these leaves rest upon the pallet and are held apart in proper position by the insertion between them of the inner edges 20 of the projections 7.

In operation end plates of proper length to form a block of the thickness desired are hinged to theside plate B, as above described, and the projections 7 are attached by means of the butts 8 and bolts 10 in one of the vertical series of perforations 9 on a line which will bring the core for the air-space of the block to be cast in a predetermined position. The form is then placed upon the pallet with the anchors 15 in the grooves 14, the end plates are closed with the inner edges of the projections 7 inserted between the leaves of the division-piece 18, and the end plates are locked to the side plate D by. means of the hook and latch 11 and 12. The block is then formed and tamped in the usual manner, and immediately upon the completion of this process the form may be i opened and the block removed upon the pallet, when the mold is at once in readiness for another casting.

It will be noticed that the opening of the mold causes all its parts, except the pallet, to freely and automatically fall away from the block without injury to the latter. The projections on the end pieces, by reason of the double hinging of the parts hereinbefore described, are withdrawn from the casting on lines parallel with the adjacent surfaces of the concrete, and this withdrawal permits the division-piece to collapse at its lower edges. The side plate D is, when unlocked, entirely free from all other parts of the machine and from the casting, and the plate B, because of the loose connection with the base through the slotted and pivoted bar 1, also falls away from the concrete by its own weight. Thus all chance of breaking the plastic cement .is obviated, and the repeated use of the machine without intervals for the setting of cement is made possible.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is p 1. Adevice of the class described, comprising a base, pallet-and side and end plates, in

sion-piece having leaves, and spreaders for said' leaves hinged to the end plates and provided with slots for the support of anchors to beinserted in the form.

3. A device of the class described, comprising a base, pallet, side and end plates and a bifnrcated division-piece, one of said side plates being pivotally and slidably attached to said base, said end plates being hinged to said side plate and provided with hinged projections adapted to spread the leaves of the divisionpiece, and means for locking the end plates to the second side plate.

4. A device of the class described, comprising one pivoted and one normally free side plate, end plates hinged to said pivoted side plate and provided with hinged extensions, a bifurcated division-piece adapted to be supported by said extensions, and means for locking the parts together.

5. A device of the class described, having end plates hinged to one of its sides and carrying extensions, a bifurcated division-piece adapted to inclose the ends of said extensions and be supported thereby, and means for looking the parts.

6. In adevice of the class described movable side and end plates, the latter provided with inwardly-projecting core-sections, hinged to said end plates, which are in turn hinged to one of the side plates; whereby, when the mold is opened, the said projections are withdrawn on lines substantially parallel with the adjacent surfaces of the casting.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination of a base with vertical side plates, one of which is pivotally attached to the base, vertical end plates hinged to said side plate, a hollow division-piece provided with hinged leaves, and means for supporting and locking the parts.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES W. BRADLEY. JOHN OLSEN.

WVitnesses:

S. D. RINIKER, J. M. PARSONS. 

